Hugh and Devera Anderson of Tryon never thought they would fall for a scam.
But when your grandson calls, frantic because he’s in a foreign jail and needs bail money, one tends to act before thinking, the Andersons said.
“As you get older, it seems your heart gets softer and these people know who they are preying on,” Devera Anderson said.
About 9:20 a.m. last Wednesday morning, a young man called the Anderson home claiming to be their granddaughter’s husband, Kevin, who is a captain in the Air Force.
Devera said the man knew very specific information about Kevin. He said he was in Barcelona, Spain, fishing with a friend when the Spanish authorities picked them up for not having a fishing license. He said they had already tried to call the American Embassy but had no luck. To get out of jail they needed $2,000 immediately. The Andersons quickly decided to wire the money through Western Union.
“They have it all timed to perfection and find ways to sound so much like your grandchildren,” she said. “Oh, he was as sweet as he could be and he even arranged to call back.”
It wasn’t until after the money was transferred that they suspected something wasn’t quite right about the situation.
Devera said she called back the Western Union number asking for the man named John who had talked to them, posing as a Western Union employee. She said when the Western Union office told them they did not have an employee by that name, they finally called their kids, who called their granddaughter to confirm that her husband was not the one who called.
The Andersons have lost $2,176 in all, including the Western Union wire fee, and unfortunately have been told there is little that can be done to recoup their money.
Devera Anderson said she wants other seniors and grandparents to know this could happen to them more easily than they think.
“I worked in a police department for many years and so I thought I would never fall for one of these scams, but it can happen because they get you so worked up,” she said.
Devera said looking back she realizes there were many warning signs. The Andersons had received several other calls in which the people immediately hung up when they answered. She said she also realizes now how suspicious it was that the man posing as Kevin didn’t want them to tell anyone else in the family what was going on and that Kevin would choose to call them rather than his wife.
The Better Business Bureau(BBB) encourages victims of such scams to report the crimes through the BBB website, www.bbb.org, by clicking “Spot a Scam?”
Victims should also file a complaint with the police department and their regional FBI office.